How Far We've Come
by anniebrackett
Summary: Set during and after Rob's movies, this is an AU where Annie and Laurie survive and go on to have a normal life together.
1. Wherever You Will Go

"Laurie! Laurie, look at me. I'm going to go call 911, okay?" Mya tries to get her friend's attention, but it's impossible. She's on the floor, covered in blood, focusing fully on the injured girl in her arms.

"No, Mya, we need to get her out of here. I'm the one he's here for. Please take Annie to the hospital and – baby! Baby, stay with me. Stay with me, okay? I'm going to get you out of here."

Feeling as helpless as Annie looks, Mya slips an arm under the dying girl and gets her standing. When Laurie helps her carry Annie to the car and puts her in the backseat, kissing her hair, her face, her lips, whispering things that sound a lot like "baby", "I'm so sorry", and "I love you so much", Mya hopes she has given up her self-sacrifice. But then Laurie tells her to go, and starts running towards the woods.

* * *

Loomis is dead, Michael is dead, and Laurie isn't quite sure what to do. She's covered in blood in the middle of a field, next to two corpses. Next thing she knows a shot rings out, and she falls down next to the bodies.

The grass is surprisingly soft, and she doesn't think she's ever seen the sky so clear. Why is she so cold all of a sudden?

"I need a medic over here!" Sheriff Brackett is in the field now, too, applying pressure to the wound that's already oozing blood through her costume, soaking Annie's dried blood with her own.

"Is Annie okay? Please tell me she's okay."

"She's okay, sweetheart. She's in surgery but she's going to be okay. Now you've got to hang on too, alright?"

* * *

It's been a two years, four months, and sixteen days since the second attacks. Laurie tries not to count the days any more, she's trying to move forward, but today is significant. Today's the day she moves out, taking Annie with her.

They could've just rented an apartment in town, but they both needed something permanent. They needed a _home_. So Laurie saved the money from her shifts at the java hole, and from her paid internship at the psychology office. Sheriff Brackett was footing the bill for her college course, but he still helped where he could. They're technically renting the house, but they'll sign the dotted line for full ownership once they're able to. They can't rush the life they're desperate to build together; they have to do it right, play it safe.

The house is impossibly tiny, and just down the street from Sheriff Brackett. He makes them promise to come over for dinner every Friday, but they all know he'll be seeing them a lot more than just one night a week.

The first night they sleep with the lights on and a gun on the nightstand, just to be safe.

* * *

"Jesus Christ Laurie, what's with all the fucking candles?"

"Oh, um. I was planning on proposing to you."

* * *

When Annie was a little girl she pictured she'd be marrying a handsome boy somewhere traditional, wearing a wedding dress, and surrounded by all her friends and family. Laurie would be her maid of honour and Lynda would be a bridesmaid.

But today she's marrying a beautiful girl in city hall, wearing a simple dress. She doesn't have very many friends and she's surrounded by just her father, the girl that saved her life, and a handful of coworkers. Laurie is her bride and Lynda is dead. But, somehow, she's never been happier than when Laurie slips the band onto her finger and kisses her.

* * *

"Good morning, Mrs. Brackett."

"Good morning, baby."

* * *

"Look at how small she is, Laurie." Annie whispers, staring down at the baby in her arms

"She looks just like you. And you're pretty tiny."

"Yeah, because your three inches over me makes you a fucking giant, right?"

Laurie just kisses the top of Annie's head and lightly plays with the newborn's wisps of dark brown hair.

"Do you think Lynda would approve of us naming our baby after her?"

"If she was here, she would be making sure all of Haddonfield knew."

* * *

"We're home!" Laurie announces, dropping her bag at the bottom of the stairs as Lynda runs up to her room.

"Between you announcing yourself at maximum volume and Lyn running like a herd of fucking elephants, I don't know how Mason stays asleep."

"Yeah, yeah. He sleeps just like you when you drink," Laurie teases as Annie rolls her eyes. "What did you guys do today, anyway?"

"We went for a walk up to dad's and then went to the grocery store to pick up some things for supper. He was quiet and sweet the whole time, always the total opposite of his sister." Annie explains, throwing her arms around her wife simultaneously.

"I know it's been years, but I'm still so proud of you."

Annie smiles into the blonde's neck. "Ditto, babe."

"What did I do to make you proud? Stop chugging beer and yelling at you to get out of my room?"

"Mm, right, it's _our _room now." Annie smirks, backing Laurie and kissing her soundly.

* * *

"Is that more paperwork? That's the third day this week!" Annie whines as she enters the dining room, Mason attached to her hip.

"Mhm. I may be the Sheriff's daughter-in-law, but that doesn't stop the station from making me take my work home." Laurie explains, dropping her glasses on the table as she stands to scoop up her son and kiss his mother.

"I'm going to talk to my dad," Annie decides, leaning over to cover Mason's ears. "The officers should be filing their own fucking forms."

"Baby, they can't do their own therapy assessments."

"Don't correct your pregnant wife, Laurie."

* * *

"How's baby no-name tonight?" Laurie asks, slipping under the covers.

"Very energetic," Annie replies as she attempts to adjust the t-shirt covering her over-sized stomach. "Speaking of, shouldn't we get the ball rolling on name ideas? With Lyn and Mason there wasn't really a question, but this one's a bit more of a challenge."

Annie watches on amused as Laurie plays with the string of her hoodie, her face scrunching up in thought, before she offers a response. "I've been thinking about Sam lately, for a boy. Without Dr. Loomis I wouldn't have survived that last Halloween, so we really owe it to him."

"His book was a real dick move, but I think that's a good one to throw in the mix," Annie replies, her head dropping onto Laurie's shoulder. "Plus I'm pretty sure this one's a boy. My belly is kind of low and that means something, right?"

"You'd be tripping if your belly was low."

"Oh, you're so lucky I love you." Annie reaches out, grabbing onto the sleeve of Laurie's sweater in a dramatic attempt at being threatening.

"And you're lucky I love you more," Laurie flirts, leaning over and pressing kiss to her forehead. "Night, Annie."

"Mm, night." Annie mutters out a reply, already starting to drift off, Laurie's sweater still firmly in her grip.


	2. Finally Begin

Haddonfield General is twenty minutes away from the Brackett/Strode residence, but Mya pulls up at the Emergency entrance ten minutes after peeling out of the driveway. After ten minutes of listening to Annie call out for Laurie in between sobs and moans, she wishes she would've made it there in five.

* * *

"Okay, Ms. Brackett. You're finally cleared to pack up and go home," Doctor Meeker looks up as his eyes finish scanning the chart. "But I guess you're already set to go?"

"It's a possibility," Annie sits perched on the end of the bed, a full bag zipped up beside her. "But doc, can I ask you something before I hit the road?"

* * *

"Annie – baby – wait," Laurie manages to gasp out between the kisses the girl beneath her is hurriedly pressing to her mouth. "Are you sure? We haven't, y'know, done anything since -"

"Two months before Halloween, I know. That's why I need this, Laurie. We almost died and now we're getting a second chance; I can't let us fuck that up again."

"But what about your side?" Laurie counters, her hand unconsciously hovering over the wound, serving as a protective measure against the exactly zero threats nearby.

"I already checked with the doctor before I left the hospital," she reassures Laurie, her hand coming up to lightly rest against the other girl's cheek. "And we can just take it really slow."

"So you're telling me you were planning for this?" Laurie murmurs, turning her face to kiss the hand cradling her cheek.

"Mm, maybe." Annie smirks, her free hand slipping beneath Laurie's waistband. That shuts her up.

* * *

Once they were physically healed enough, the topic of therapy was approached. After much resistance on Laurie's part, they finally decided to have joint sessions with Dr. Collier, this time without any prescriptions. Once the decision and the appointment were both made, Annie figured that was it, but then the day of the actual session arrived.

After just about dragging Laurie out of bed (she just took away the blankets), swearing to never sleep with her again (a completely empty threat), and buying her a sticky bun for breakfast ("five hundred calories of sugar and shit, Laurie! That's how much I love you!"), Annie finally had Laurie sitting on the sofa in Barbara's office, albeit next to a pissed off girlfriend.

"Since this is the first session, I don't want to get into the more serious topics just yet. Instead, how about you both tell me about your relationship? How you met, how long you've been together, etcetera."

Laurie opens her mouth to respond, but Annie cuts her off. "Wouldn't you know all that already from your sessions with Laurie?"

"Well, I know a few scarce details, yes, but Laurie and I mostly focused on your relationship in terms of how it was affecting her emotions. Besides, I'd like to hear some of it from your point of view, Annie."

And so Annie, not wanting to be too difficult on the first day, launches into a brief synopsis, with occasional input from Laurie, of how she and Laurie were best friends before the first attacks, but afterwards started to comfort each other in ways they hadn't anticipated. It evolved into something resembling a relationship for close to two years before it all started to disintegrate. Now that they've survived this last Halloween, they're trying to move forward together rather than fall apart all over again.

"Now, the session is almost up, but there's something else I'd like to touch upon quickly," Barbara explains, leafing through the pile of papers on her lap. "Annie, from what I understand from these notes, you saw a therapist briefly in 2007. You were diagnosed with agoraphobia, but ultimately decided not to pursue treatment. I don't want to get into the 'why's' of that today, but I would like to ask if you'd be open to treatment this time around."

Annie grips onto Laurie's hand, the only sign she shows that this question has made her nervous, and answers. "I think I would be," she makes brief eye contact with the girl next to her. "As long as it doesn't involve any medication."

Dr. Collier scribbles this down. "I'll see what I can arrange," she replies before smiling at the two girls in front of her. "I know this is going to involve a lot of work for you two, but I'm glad you made it here."

Laurie looks at Annie's side profile as she responds. "Me too."

* * *

Although the bathroom was completely cleaned up and repainted following the attack, thanks to the Sheriff's Department, Annie can't be alone in it for more than five minutes without feeling like a crushing weight has been placed on her chest. Within the first few weeks of being home, Laurie notices Annie's showers (not baths, anymore. Never baths.) getting shorter and shorter. She would only shower in the morning, with the door to their (formerly Laurie's) room wide open, and the shower itself would be no more than five minutes. In those five minutes, Laurie would hear the shower curtain being opened just about every thirty seconds.

Five weeks after their return home, Laurie is sprawled across their bed on her stomach, reading a book. Annie walks in on her way into the bathroom, lightly touching Laurie's shoulder as she passes her. The door is left open, her robe comes off, and the shower starts.

Laurie tries to focus on the words on the page in front of her, but then the curtain slides open for the first time. By the second time, her book is forgotten and she's pushing herself off of the bed. The curtain is halfway open for the third time when Laurie enters the bathroom and calls out, "Annie, I'm coming in with you, okay?"

Annie's "okay" comes as Laurie's t-shirt is pulled over her head.

Laurie slips into the shower behind Annie, just as the brunette turns around to look at her.

"Hi" Annie says quietly, a smile quirking at the edge of her lips

"Hi, baby."

The shower goes on quietly, with the two girls taking turns under the water and handing each other body wash and shampoo bottles as if this is a regular occurrence. When Annie starts to reach for the curtain to check the bathroom, Laurie holds her hand and presses kisses between her shoulder blades.

She doesn't reach for the curtain again.

* * *

"Oh hey, guys," Mya says as she comes up from behind the counter. "I thought you'd be out of here for the rest of the weekend, not forcing your poor girlfriend to hang out in this shit hole."

A faint "It's a Java Hole!" is heard from somewhere in the backroom.

"Well, Haddonfield doesn't have a whole lot to offer for date locations, plus we have some news for you." Laurie responds, slipping behind the counter to grab her own cup of coffee.

"Oh? What's up?" Mya pulls off her apron and leans against the counter.

Laurie's smiling too hard to actually tell her, so she just leaves it up to Annie to raise her left hand.

"Holy shit, you guys, I'm so happy for you!" Mya squeals as she wraps them both up in a hug.

* * *

Despite how much their lives have turned around, they still have the occasional blow-out fight. Annie picking Laurie up from work leads to a completely silent drive home, but as soon as they're inside their house, Annie makes it known what has her so upset.

"Quick question! Are you blind or stupid? Did I marry someone with poor vision or an idiot?"

Laurie is too shocked to bring up the fact that she wears glasses so, technically, she does have poor vision. "What the fuck are you talking about, Annie?"

"Deputy Logan, Laurie! I started walking towards your office to pick you up and you know what she said to me? _'Sorry, ma'am, you're not authorized back there'_" Annie spits out in a mocking tone. "As if I'm not the Sheriff's fucking daughter and your fucking wife."

"Okay, so, she tried to stop you from coming into my office," Laurie says evenly, trying to tread carefully. "Why are you taking that out on me?"

"She was trying to patronize me!" Annie shouts, her hand coming up to pull through her hair. "And then the way she _looked_ at you, baby, she wants you. And you just smiled and went along with it, totally fucking oblivious."

"She was being polite!"

"Yeah, sure, and you'll probably keep saying that even when she's trying to fuck you in your authorized zone of an office."

"Annie! Can you please calm down and talk to me? What's this really about? Because I know you, baby, and this isn't you. If anyone else had hit on me, you would've made some snarky comment and probably kissed me in front of them. Not this."

Annie snorts but doesn't reply. A full minute passes without an answer, but Laurie waits. When it finally comes, Annie's tone is softer, and she's staring at the wall instead of Laurie.

"When she was telling me about your office, she wouldn't look me in the eyes. She just stared at my scars."

"Oh, Annie."

"And it made me realize that you see them everyday. What if one day they make you mad again? What if they still do but you're keeping it from me?"

"I'm not that damaged teenager anymore, baby. I don't care about your scars," Laurie retorts softly, stepping towards her wife. "All I care about is you."

Annie swipes quickly at her eyes before replying. "I'm still going to kick that deputy's ass."

"Go right ahead, baby."

* * *

Laurie still has nightmares where Michael gets her. They're not so easily separated and categorized such as "hospital ones" and "Halloween night ones"; over the years they've all just blended together. But now when she wakes up with a gasp, covered in a cold sweat, she feels Annie curled up next to her and hears the sounds of their daughter snoring softly in the baby monitor, and she falls back to sleep without any issues.

* * *

Annie is already exhausted by the time they reach Sheriff Brackett's for Thanksgiving dinner. Lyn put up a fight for twenty minutes about having to wear shoes that weren't rain boots, Laurie forgot the sweet potato casserole on the counter and had to turn around, and Mason has been teething for the last two days.

Her headache is just starting to fade when her dad drops a fork and, without thinking, curses over it. Within two seconds, Lynda is repeating the word. Laurie scoops her daughter up and carries her to a corner in the living room; a faint "Lynda Cynthia Brackett!" is heard. Annie just sighs and puts her head in her hands. Brackett kisses the crown of her head, "Sorry, sweetheart".

She was exhausted when they first got here, and she's exhausted now, but with her dad flicking through the channels, her wife's head on her shoulder, and two sleeping kids on their laps, she thinks she's pretty lucky anyways.

* * *

Annie is three weeks away from her due date when her water breaks during an afternoon visit at Mya's house. The contractions come on quick, there's blood, and then it all goes dark.

Sheriff Brackett takes over for Laurie with Lyn and Mason as she goes to the hospital. She keeps it together in front of her kids and on the drive to Haddonfield General, but once she gets into the emergency room they both almost died in (twice) and sees a pale, crying Mya, she loses it.

The nurses all know who she is and try to keep her as comfortable as possible, but it's still the longest wait of her life.

Finally, the doctor comes out and tells her what she was praying for: Annie and the baby are okay. She's exhausted, but okay. The baby, a boy, is a little on the small side, and in need some precautionary tests, but he's expected to be just fine too.

When Laurie walks into Annie's hospital room and sees her lying in the bed, hooked up to tubes and wires, it feels like Halloween night all over and she starts to cry again.

Annie scowls as best as she can and rasps out, "Laurie, I'm okay"

Laurie just nods as she drags a chair as close to the bed as she can get it, sits, and promptly slumps over so she's lying with her head next to Annie's chest. Annie runs her fingers through her wife's hair until she's ready to talk.

"Don't scare me like that ever again, baby. Three times is enough."

"Yeah, I thought it might be getting kind of old by now."


	3. Blue in the Evening

**Author's Note:** This one gets a bit more kid-focused than the previous installments. Enjoy!

* * *

Laurie wakes up from surgery with a gasp and an instant ache in her bones. It's dark, rainy, and quiet, and her first thought is a mix of "find Annie" and "is this real?"

She pulls herself up and wheels her IV stand down the hall, peeking into rooms and trying to ignore all the similarities between her recurring nightmare and the reality she's found herself in. When she finds Annie's room, though, all those nagging thoughts disappear.

When Michael attacked Annie, he missed all major organs, but the sheer amount of blood lost on the bathroom floor is what almost killed her. The biggest wound, traveling from behind her hip to up and under her ribcage, took countless stitches to close and now keeps her bedridden with a morphine drip. And Laurie doesn't even want to think about the array of cuts, bruises, and other wounds that were caused by Annie being chased, beaten, and thrown throughout the bedroom and bathroom.

"Oh, baby. Oh, Annie. Please don't die. Please, please, please don't die."

Part of her wants to barricade them in the room until Annie gets better, but she knows that's irrational. This is real life, where there's no Nurse Daniels, no Buddy, and no Michael Myers waiting in the shadows anymore.

* * *

After almost losing each other a second time, both Annie and Laurie start to take their relationship much more seriously. They went from best friends, to lovers, to a couple of total messes, but now they're going to give an actual relationship a go.

"I don't want to just sleep with you," Annie had explained. "I want everything"

"It's yours, baby."

* * *

Sheriff Brackett has to hand it to them, they keep their relationship reboot hidden from him for the better part of a month before he clues in that their constant touching isn't out of support or comfort.

He remembers realizing Laurie's glances at her best friend were more than innocent when they were both just juniors in high school, and he also remembers how their first go at things ended with a hostile household where the slightest look from one girl could set the other off. So he lets them take their time figuring things out, and waits to talk to them about it until they come to him. He's not going to force them out in the open like that, especially when their individual mental traumas are only just beginning to finally heal.

Every time he walks into the kitchen in the morning to find Laurie standing behind Annie, with her arms around the smaller girl's middle, while the brunette makes breakfast, he just smiles, shakes his head, and pours himself a cup of coffee.

When he first watched the two girls interact, as toddlers, he was worried Laurie might have the same violent outbursts towards other children as her brother did. But watching them then, and watching them now, it's clear to him that Laurie will do nothing but look after Annie.

* * *

The attacks on Halloween of 2007 turned Annie into a very different person than she was before that night. She remained crass and opinionated at her core, but also became neurotic, organized, and mature. Rather than graduating high school and going on to spend four years partying at a state college, which was her original plan, she spent two years hidden in the house until the second attacks.

The year following the second attacks marked her maturity kicking into overdrive: "I need to get my shit together this year, dad. Is the station hiring?"

It wasn't, but a law office in town was looking for an assistant, and Annie's resume found its way to the top of the pile. It turned out all of her other Halloween '07-induced qualities made the job a perfect fit. Calls were answered right away; forms were signed, sealed, and delivered days before they were due; and anybody in the office found slacking off was dealt with by none other than the mouthy brunette at the front desk.

Annie's office is within walking distance of both the Java Hole and the college, so Laurie pops by once in a while to check up on her (Annie would argue she just doesn't want to go home and study).

"Y'know, it's pretty dead in here..."

"And?"

"You should just skip out early and come home with me."

"Oh, so the princess of punctuality is trying to get me to skip the rest of the day?" Annie flirts in response, her eyes never leaving her computer screen as she goes over the week's appointments.

Laurie rolls her eyes and leans against the desk. "Not the rest of the day! Just take an extra hour for lunch."

Annie's only response is an are-you-kidding-me glance and then she's back to typing.

"Okay, twenty minutes?" Laurie tries, reaching over to lightly run her fingers through the hair hanging off the brunette's shoulder.

"Laurie..."

"Come on, Annie. You worked overtime twice last week. You've earned a break."

"Okay, I'll tell you what," Annie spins her chair around to fully face her pleading girlfriend. "I'll talk to Marion about leaving early on Friday, okay? We'll go for a walk, grab some pizza, and do some other, uh, activities" she finishes with a faint trace of a blush.

"Mm, perfect." Laurie grins, bending down to press a kiss to her cheek.

"Now get going, before Marion walks in and I end up having forever off of work."

"I'm already on my way out!" Laurie spins her bag around as proof as she starts heading towards the exit. "But Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

* * *

The finals for Laurie's first year of college lead her (and her girlfriend) to the town's public library for the good portion of two weeks. She crams for her psych exam in particular while Annie works her way through the reading list she may or may not have ignored back in senior year (she needs something to do, and she's in a library, so she might as well read).

Mya stops by occasionally to drop off coffees for the girls, courtesy of her Java Hole discount (read: free caffeine whenever needed), but is always considerate enough to not stay long, realizing that they probably don't want her to hang around with them in the spot they spent so much time with Lynda.

The first study day is partly spent ignoring the table they used to sit at when they were a trio, with neither girl mentioning their deceased friend's name. But by the time the sun starts to set, Laurie cracks.

"What do you think Lynda would be doing if she was still here? Would she be in college too or doing something else?"

"She'd probably be taking it easy with all the money she would've made from the bets over whether or not we'd get together." Annie jokes with a soft, sad smile, dropping _Jane Eyre _to gently run her hand across Laurie's back.

* * *

The purchase of their first house together includes the adoption of a small grey cat, who they name Charlie.

"Why do you want this one so bad?" Annie waves her hand in the direction of the cat rubbing against her ankles.

"Well, if our future baby turns out to be a boy, I don't want him to feel overwhelmed with two moms and only lady pets."

"And a cool aunt!" Mya chips in from across the room, a cat in each of her arms.

"Laurie, you do realize he probably won't give a shit, right?"

"Oh, shut it" Laurie hushes her girlfriend as she bends down to scoop up their soon-to-be-pet.

* * *

Two days after Annie's 27th birthday, her first pregnancy test came back positive. That one little plus sign had been planned and anticipated, but still managed to turn both of the unborn baby's mothers into overly cautious, paranoid messes.

Annie started yoga (well, attempted it once or twice); began eating even healthier (pizza was now never present in their house); and went for daily walks (accompanied by Laurie).

Laurie, on the other hand, started working longer hours in an attempt to save even more money for the baby, but took breaks similar to smoke breaks. Rather than light a cigarette, she would take ten minutes to call Annie and check up on her. She had to cut back, however, because Annie started answering the phone with remarks such as "I haven't moved off the sofa since you last called".

Once Annie hit the six month mark and became too bloated and wobbly to go to work anymore, she started designing the baby's room. She picked out the paint at the hardware store, owned by Ben Tramer, who offered to deliver the heavy cans to the Brackett house that night. Annie accepted, and bit her tongue to keep from making a comment about how he called her wife "fucking hot" in high school. (Damn hormones).

She's napping when he stops by with the paint, so Laurie fills her in when she wakes up.

"Ben's going to help me paint the room on Saturday, and Mya will probably swing by too. Never thought I'd be doing our baby's room with those two, of all people."

"But I'm going onesie shopping with Rachel this weekend, remember?" Annie replies, referring to her co-worker-turned-friend.

"Well, I read it'd be bad for you and the baby if you were around all the fumes, so you can't really be involved." Laurie explains with a shrug.

Annie's slippered feet carry her over to her wife as quickly as she can go with twenty extra pounds on her midsection, "I don't want our daughter's room painted by you and shortbus Tramer!"

"Baby, the books say..."

"Fuck the books. You're always reading those books. I bet the doctor would say it's fine!"

"I don't think he would." Laurie tries to keep a handle on the amused smirk spreading across her mouth at Annie's dramatic antics.

"I want to be involved in her room." Annie shoves her bangs out of her eyes, a gesture that appears every time they argue.

"Annie, honey, you picked out all the furniture and – where are you going?"

"Downstairs to throw all those books in the trash."

The bedroom door slams behind her, leaving Laurie to sigh and heave it back open. Somebody has to stop her wife from starting a fire with the public library's property.

* * *

When Lynda turns four, she starts asking for a sibling, and her mothers just nod and smile. But when it's just them, and she's tucked up in her bedroom, Laurie curses out the dead brother she wishes wasn't her brother and the genetics that come along with it.

"Laurie, you know I'll carry as many kids as we want," the brunette tries to be rational and reassuring despite the toll this conversation takes on her every time they have it. "They're not any less yours just because I'm the one having them. Look at your parents! They were your parents even though you came from Deborah Myers."

"It's not fair! He took this from me. I should be able to do this for us," Laurie gasps out, gripping onto both of Annie's hands for support. "I love you more than anything, Annie, and I can't have a fucking baby for you."

"I know, nothing about this is fair," Annie whispers, kissing the hands interlaced with her own. "But we'll be okay."

* * *

Mason is only a few weeks old, but he's already showcasing how much different he is than his sister. He'll wake up once or twice throughout the night, while Lyn still elbows her way in between her mothers in the middle of the night, or flat out refuses to go to bed at all. Mason eats wherever and whenever, while the eldest Brackett child is the definition of a picky eater and tries to con her way into eating in the living room every evening.

But whenever Annie opens her mouth to complain about Lyn's behavior, Laurie is right there to jump in and point out that she is exactly like one of her mothers, and it isn't the blonde one.

* * *

James Samuel Brackett, "Jamie" for short, was born three weeks early, with a small list of minor health problems. Petite with a pile of light brown hair, he becomes his siblings' main priority, despite them being only seven and two when he enters their lives.

The boys' close age means they share one of the larger bedrooms in the Brackett household. Mason's day bed is on one side, while Jamie's crib is on the opposite side of the room. But in spite of all the talking-tos their eldest son gets, and the significant distance between the two beds, at least three times a week Annie and Laurie wake up in the morning to find Mason curled up in his brother's crib with him.

Meanwhile, always the brasher of the three, Lyn takes to expressing her concern for Jamie by loudly exclaiming "watch his head!" at any friend, co-worker, or relative of her mothers who come over to see the new baby.

"For two people who never had siblings, we're doing pretty good with our babies." Annie remarks to her wife as they sit on the sofa opposite their children. Lyn is holding Jamie, a pillow supporting her arm and his head, while Mason does a quiet rendition of This Little Piggy with his brother's toes.

"Well we did have each other growing up." Laurie points out

"Don't make it weird, Laurie."


	4. There now, steady love

**Author's Note:** This part is all about married Annie and Laurie. It was such a cute piece to write and I hope you all love it!

* * *

They're barely moved into their first home together when Laurie proposes. In fact, a handful of unpacked boxes stare at her as she starts preparing. As soon as the front door shuts behind her on the big day, she lights candles, makes dinner, and slips the ring box into the back pocket of her jeans, her hands shaking as she does so.

Taking this next step isn't exactly a big surprise; she and Annie have long since come to the conclusion that they're it for each other. They casually discuss future children and marriage plans ("Do we hyphenate our names? Is that how gay marriage works?"), but that doesn't stop Laurie's heart from feeling like it's about to fly out of her chest at the sound of Annie's car pulling into the driveway.

* * *

"I know we're still so young, but god, baby. With everything we've gone through and—and all the people we've lost, I just want this sooner rather than later, because we might not get a later. You're the person I've always wanted to spend the rest of my life with, even if it gets cut short. You're the person." Laurie nervously rambles on, before finally asking the question she thinks she might've been born to ask. "Will you marry me?"

"Of course I will," Annie tries to sound exasperated, but she's crying and her hands are on her face and it's just not happening.

* * *

"You don't mind the size of the ring, do you?" Laurie interlaces their fingers, her thumb lightly grazing the diamond in question.

"It's perfect, but I'm totally asking my dad for help with paying for your ring so it's bigger than mine."

"Annie! Not everything is a competition!"

"But if it is, I'm winning." Annie flirts in response, leaning up to kiss her almost-wife.

* * *

They get married in October. It's a Thursday and the air feels crisp and cool, exactly like it did on the first Halloween that almost took them away.

As they sign the dotted line that will link them together forever (as if they weren't already), they finally feel like they can breathe in this weather again.

* * *

"I think 'just married' sex is the best sex we've ever had."

"Better than damaged comfort sex?"

"Knocks it out of the park."

* * *

"What the hell is that?"

Laurie freezes, her arm clasped tightly in Annie's grip.

"Oh! Oh, this?" Stuttering, Laurie tries to come up with an eloquent explanation. But what comes out is far from it. "I drank a lot. It's for you?"

Annie stares hard at the simple, black initials on the blonde's wrist: _A.B._

* * *

"Wha—baby?" Laurie freezes, staring down the space between their two bodies, her hand in the beginning stages of sliding a pair of pajama shorts down and off of Annie.

The small, cursive L in the space between the edge of the brunette's hip and bikini line stares up at her.

"Oh, this?" Annie smirks, lightly pushing her hips up until they touch Laurie's. She tilts her face, waiting until her mouth is level with her wife's ear. "It's for you."

* * *

The day of their fifth wedding anniversary is hell.

Laurie sleeps through her alarm, only realizing it when a drowsy Annie rolls over after her own alarm, murmuring "babe, don't you have work?"

She's running out the door so quickly she forgets to grab a coffee, which is enough to ruin even a day that's had a good start. The town's flower delivery service got the dates mixed up, and so there weren't any flowers waiting on Annie's desk when she got to work. All of Laurie's usually-smooth-running appointments are completely overbooked, leading to a line outside her office of annoyed officers. One of her officer friends makes a joke about her and Annie celebrating their anniversary, unaware that Sheriff Brackett is turning the corner. And, finally, as she goes to leave, her car won't start.

After all of this is over with, an officer from work drives her home in the pouring rain. She spends the drive sitting in silence, thinking that this may be one of the worst days of her life, excluding two Halloweens in particular. When she walks through the front door of their house, however, and sees the woman who slipped a ring on her finger exactly five years ago, doing something so stupidly cute Laurie thinks she might actually burst from the sudden rush of emotion, things are suddenly okay.

* * *

Annie and Laurie spend almost the entirety of their twenties as solely Mrs. &amp; Mrs. Brackett (well, Strode-Brackett for Laurie). Just the two of them, learning to be a unit before bringing anybody else into the mix. Laurie's pretty sure she's fallen in love with Annie a hundred times in all those years, while Annie will one-up her and say she's fallen a hundred and one.

When they're thirty, though, their little duo becomes a group of three. Looking at Lyn, with her tufts of brown hair covered by a crooked little hat, makes parts of them wish they had rushed into things just to meet her sooner.


End file.
